Soldiers honored, have fun on Redstone Arsenal

Dave Dieter/The Huntsville TimesSoldiers enjoy the chocolate fountain, one of several treats provided during "Salute to the Military," an annual, all-day event hosted by the Redstone Arsenal Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation for young active-duty soldiers who are unable to return home and be with their families for Thanksgiving.

HUNTSVILLE, AL - A field on Redstone Arsenal was set up with a huge inflatable slide and other games Sunday, but it wasn't for little kids. The games were one of several activities planned for soldiers who won't be home for Thanksgiving.

Having a way for them to just have fun "is very important for their morale," said Natalie Crawford, the special events coordinator for the Redstone Arsenal Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, which threw Sunday's party.

Other events included dinner and a comedy show Sunday evening. A big Thanksgiving dinner is planned for the troops on Wednesday.

Many who took part in Sunday's "Salute to the Military," as the day of activities was called, are soldiers in the Army's 59th Ordnance Brigade and the Ordnance Munitions and Electronics Maintenance School. The school has been based on the arsenal since 1952 but will be moving to Fort Lee, Va., beginning in spring 2011 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission consolidation plans.

The school is moving to new, mission-specific facilities, out of decades-old buildings on the arsenal, but leaving Huntsville won't be easy, said Lt. Col. Sean Cusker, commander of the 832nd Ordnance Battalion.

"This community really rallies around our soldiers," Cusker said.

Many of those at the Ordnance School are new soldiers who are making the transition from civilian life, and having a community that openly appreciates them helps get them settled into the military, Cusker said.

Soldiers attending the school spend from seven to 30 weeks, depending on the level of training they're receiving, at Redstone. The school trains 3,000 soldiers a year, with 15 to 75 new soldiers arriving every weekend.

Pvt. Michael Kumala from Dade City, Fla., and Pvt. Michael Watkins from Richmond, Ind., are two of those newly arrived soldiers. They finished basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., just last week.

"We need this sometimes," Watkins said as several of his fellow soldiers cast aside their warfighter training and played like kids on the inflatables. Their days are long, beginning at 4:30 a.m., with physical training at 5 a.m. They follow orders all day, are in classes for hours and have to study in the evening.

"Sometimes you need to let loose and be a kid a little bit," Watkins said.

Kumala, 18, joined the Army because he had been working in construction and wanted to change directions. The Army affords him career opportunities as well as the chance to go to college, he said.

Watkins, 22, is from a military family, "left, right, mom, dad, aunts and uncles," he said.

He can't say what he's being trained to do at on the arsenal, but Watkins said: "I get paid well to do a specific job that only 1 percent of Americans get to do. I am proud to wear the Army logo every day."